First Smoke 6/1

[veggie]

YAAAAAAAA...HOOOOOOOO !!!

Well, she fired up tonight and another Listeroid 6/1 was brought to life  
At first she ran as a hit-and-miss engine as she burned off the assembly lube oil in the cylinder.
Filled the whole garage with smoke until I opened both doors and let the wind blow through.
After a minute or so, she smoothed out and ran without a miss.

My tach showed a speed of 670 rpm, so I attempted to slow it down by loosening the screw on the governor spring rod.
Nothing happened!
Because my cooling system is not functional yet, I stopped the engine after two minutes.

QUESTION:
When I restart, how much should I expect to move the governor screw to get a reaction?
3/8"...1/2" ?


Cheers,
Veggie

[mobile_bob]

as much as i hate to say it

good work!

bob g

[Ronmar]

Thats great!  I wouldn't reccomend running without some water in it though.  The water absorbs and distributes the heat keeping hot spots from forming.  Just hook a couple of hoses to the ports and run them up above the head and fill the cylinder with water.

The governor spring shouldn't take too much loosening to lower the RPM.  The linkage location represents a particular RPM.  If you lift the shutdown lever till you get the desired RPM, note the position of the linkage.  You need to loosen the spring enough to get the linlage to the same position.  If you look at the utterpower website, you will find a spmple governor spring mod that drastically improves governor spring adjustability and consistency.  Basically it moves the adjustment screw to where the end of the spring is now attached, and the end of the spring attaches directly to the linkage.  It also gets your hands away from the flywheel while making RPM adjustments.

[NoSpark]

Awesome! You'll never go back I tell ya . I bet 99% of these engines get run without coolant for a few minutes a dozen times while you show your friends and family. The engine should react to every thread you turn, at least mine does with the governor mod.

[veggie]

I found the problem with the governor linkage.
If you look closely in photo at the top of this thread you will note that the adjusting screw is backed off, but the linkage did not follow it. Turns out the linkage was bound up on the adjustment rod, so all my adjustments to the nut were useless.
In the hustle and bustle of the first run, I did not notice the problem.

One more item to check on new engines!

Cheers,
Veggie

[veggie]

Awesome! You'll never go back I tell ya . I bet 99% of these engines get run without coolant for a few minutes a dozen times while you show your friends and family. The engine should react to every thread you turn, at least mine does with the governor mod.

Hi NoSPark,

Please elaborate on the modification you made.
(Or direct me to the thread if you have already posted it on this forum)
If there's a mod to make the governor a bit more responsive or accurate, I would love the learn about it.

Veggie

[quinnf]

http://www.utterpower.com/gov_mod.htm

FWIW, any time you want to find information on a site you can construct a specific search through Google as follows: 

Open Google
In the SEARCH box, type:
site:utterpower.com
Then insert one space and type the word you want to find on that web site.  In this case, it's "governor,"
So you'd enter the following:
site:utterpower.com governor
and hit ENTER

Quinn

[BruceM]

I got George's governor mod kit and installed it.  Alas, it didn't make any change in my governor's no load to full load performance.  I know some say it really works.

[Ronmar]

Bruce
  I don't recall, what does yours do from no load to full load?

[XYZER]

I got George's governor mod kit and installed it.  Alas, it didn't make any change in my governor's no load to full load performance.  I know some say it really works.

I got one also....it helped a bit. On my 2nd 6/1 I made my own but made it longer with many mounting holes for adjusting the spring mounting point. It allowed me to tune the spring for better response. Your spring tension may vary........

[BruceM]

My no load to full load variation is about 6Hz.  (5600 feet elevation)
It varies a bit with temperature in the engine room.

Changing the springs was the most effective, I now have two soft springs in parallel.

[NoSpark]

I get no more than a 4hz swing with my homemade governor mod, much better than before, especially when unloading. I used a piece of angle(instead of the block) with a few holes drilled in it to try different angles if needed, but the first one worked great and never bothered to try the others. If nothing else it got my knuckles away from the flywheel.

[dubbleUJay]

I made my own, using the original spring & adjuster for the Dursley Lister's and it made quite a difference from 47-53hz to about a 48-51hz.
I think that the original setup allowed the adjuster side to move up & down and didn't stay in line with the spring at various positions. This influenced the working of the spring.
Now that the adjuster side is stationary, the spring can swivel freely and keeps the whole thing in line.

I don't know how the ones on the 'roids looks like, but maybe the assembly is more "loose" in the sense that the spring and adjuster rod stays in line and it does not make such a big difference

dubbleUJay

[Ronmar]

I see Bruce.  Mine, like NoSpark's, is about 4HZ no to full load.  I havn't seen too much temp variation, but I am sure it is there.  I wonder how your elevation effects your available HP.  Your potential full load available HP is most likley less than mine at 350' ASL.

[BruceM]

I thought I was getting 4Hz, but I have a frequency meter in my shop which I can easily watch, and over time I see more drift- if I set it for best performance cold, it is then off when hot.  I set it in the middle and don't worry too much about frequency since my AVR keeps the voltage constant.

It's true I have less power and response at 5600 ft elevation.